Right To Privacy Is Important

The right to privacy is important. There is a reason why it is listed as one of the fundamental human rights, like free speech. Just because technology makes privacy invasion possible does not mean it is okay to go ahead and do it. You could destroy or disorient a person's sense of well-being by mauling their privacy.

Mass surveillance gone awry is like just because America has atom bombs, it is going to let them explode. Human lives were lost, but then the technological possibility just showed up. Tech: handle with care. Right to free speech perhaps is not as important as right to life, but one should not have to choose.

And that is a challenge. Because there is so much that can be done fast with the right use of this new technology. Say face recognition. Or biometric ID. That would be a great way to give every human being an ID and perhaps something like a credit history, fast. This could also be put to security use. We would be less anxious about people moving around globally if we were more sure about who they were. People could be seamlessly checking in at all major mass transit points.

Gmail does it well. It can not serve you ads, unless it is reading all your emails. But no human being is reading. It is machine reading. So you don't feel like your privacy is being invaded.

I guess in the case of ID, you would also need a proper governing authority, like a world government. Done right we could actually afford to let people move around as freely as goods and capital. I am putting a five trillion value on that. As in, all else equal, if people can move around freely, that would add five trillion dollars to the global economy almost immediately.